Strahdholdt Domains

From Worlds of the Aether
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Strahdholdt Domains is an alliance of undead monarchs originating from the human world of Strahdholdt. Most of the allied monarchs are vampires, although a werewolf alpha, a mummy and a lich, as well as an aboussaur leader from a nearby world are included among their number. The world has fallen to intelligent undead several centuries ago and its vampire rulers have subsequently discovered aether-sailing by purchasing it from a mercane vessel. The following expansion into the Liminus Sector met resistance against technocratic magic-shunning, eugenicist bond'wari. The bond'wari then created a new cross-bred race now called the osh'wari to fight Strahdholdt and stop its advance into the stars. Due to a mistake in osh'wari commands, they wiped out their creators and promptly continued to fight Strahdholdt, as well as everything else nearby. The two powers are locked in a positional war ever since.

Strahdholdt first contacted Gnadra Accords members only 174 years ago and despite initial fears of another undead outbreak resembling the Xa'tac but after the vampire monarchs proved perfectly amiable, unofficial partnership was opened, especially to slow down the potential threat of the osh'wari.

Culture[edit | edit source]

Strahdholdt is a world primarily run by vampires. Its kingdoms are inherited not by biological descent, but by the "blood line" - a vampire sire is inherited by those he turned personally. Not all vampires are equal - only the highest nobility has the full mental faculties of a high vampire, with thousands more turned just to provide expendable vampire thralls sent in large numbers to the osh'wari front.

Although it is commonly believed common folk on Strahdholdt are herded like cattle for its vampire lords, it's not true. Most of the time, the commoners lead fairly normal, sometimes even happy, lives and are merely expected to 'donate' their bodies to their vampire lords when their time has come. While the 'blood tithe' is viewed as horrific on many Accords worlds, the common people of Strahdholdt see it as simply a price of protection from the machine monstrosities on their doorstep.

Stub


This article is a stub. It is yet to be expanded with more canon information.